I was immediately sold when Paul’s sister Sophie recommended visiting Baranof Springs; natural hot springs in this state of perpetual cold?! It sounded amazing. The kids and I have been trying to figure out where we can fit a small hot tub on the SeaXII, but a natural hot spring, right next to a waterfall? Always a better option. We pulled into an adorable “town” with approximately 15 total houses and a gushing waterfall and realized that we would not be able to use the town dock, so we anchored out and lowered the Fournado (our davitt/crane has been a little irritable lately, but thankfully it was working. After being stuck up for more than four hours after Dawes Glacier, Paul called Doctor Philbrooks.
We walked approximately 1/4 mile up to the hot springs, located next the water fall. The water was hot and it took a while to ease into it. The pools were natural, filled with a lot of slippery,slimy algae. There were two large hot spring pools and if you walked to a small pool by the waterfall, you could experience the polar plunge part of the experience – brrr! We ate a picnic lunch and then walked further up to Lake Baranof – so pretty!
Cold pool!
Andrew and Mike were twinning in their pink flamingo trunks – flamigos forever!
Walking back to the dock, we decided to check out the bath house with three rooms, each with a deep tub with piped in hot water from the springs. The sulphur smell was pretty strong, but it was clean water, perfect for boaters with limited water supply or no showers on their boats. Kathryn, Andrew and I tried the baths out before getting back on the boat and then drained, cleaned and refilled the tubs as requested.
Clean and ready to voyage to Sitka!